Worlds of reference. Lexicography, learning and language from the clay tablet to the computer

McArthur, Tom

ISBN 10: 052130637X / ISBN 13: 9780521306379

Published by University Press, Cambridge, 1986

About this Item

First edition, review copy, with publisher's slip laid in; 8vo, pp. ix, [1], 230; illustrations throughout; fine copy in a fine dust jacket.

Seller Inventory # 31478

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Worlds of reference. Lexicography, learning and language from the clay tablet to the computer
• Publisher: University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 052130637X
• ISBN 13: 9780521306379
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Seller catalogs:
  • Language
  • Linguistics

About this title

Synopsis

Worlds of Reference is a history of dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference materials, but it is also far more than that, because it is concerned with the growth of civilisation, education and culture - and particularly how the human race learned to store information beyond the brain. It looks at how our species moved from being able to communicate only orally and to store information only in the head (rote memorisation) to the evolution of technologies for external reference: clay- and cunieform, reed-and-hieroglyph, bamboo-and-ideogram, parchment-and-alphabet, codices, books, pages, columns and so forth through the print revolution to the current electronic revolution. Along the way it looks at how this has affected languages like Latin, french, and English and people's attitudes to those languages - and to words and the listing of information about words. This intensely human subject is as compelling and important today as any account of kings, queens, wars and social upheaval.

Book Description

Worlds of Reference is a history of dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference materials, but it is also far more than that, because it is concerned with the growth of civilisation, education and culture - and particularly how the human race learned to store information beyond the brain.